anthrax
/ˈæn.θɹæks/ noun
Forms anthraxes
- noun (pathology) An acute infectious disease of herbivores, especially sheep and cattle, caused by Bacillus anthracis.
- noun The human disease that can occur in humans through contact with infected herbivores, tissue from infected animals, or high concentrations of anthrax spores, but is not usually spread between humans, with symptoms including lesions on the skin or in the lungs, often fatal.
Synonyms
charbon Cumberland disease malignant edema Siberian plague splenic fever ragsorter's disease woolsorter's disease
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἄνθραξ (ánthrax, “abscess, boil”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun (a) A carbuncle.
- noun A microscopic, bacterial organism (Bacillus anthracis), resembling transparent rods. [See Illust. under Bacillus.]
Etymology [L., fr. Gr. 1. (Med.) (a) A carbuncle. (b) A malignant pustule. 2. (Biol.) Defn: A microscopic, bacterial organism (Bacillus anthracis), resembling transparent rods. [See Illust. under Bacillus.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “anthrax”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details